|
A
laundry room featuring three commercial washers and three dryers is just
across from an equipment room.
Jeremy
Robinson of Robinson and Waldrop Landscaping will soon be completing
plantings around the massive rock retaining walls.
The
lodge alone will be worth a trip to Dream Ranch BUT it’s only a small
part included in the ten-mile parameter of fenced area (which includes
about 30 miles of roads, trails and paths!).
About
100 deer hunters visited the ranch during its first year of operation in
2002 but this year more than 500 deer and quail hunters are expected.
The 2007-08 deer season is already fully booked.
About
30 separate fields are planted with a wide variety of wheat, grain
sorghum, millet, lespedezas and winter greens for deer and the large
quail population. Jason Plunket, manager of Marshall Farmers Co-op in
Albertville, works closely with Ainsworth to provide just the right
fertilization for all seed crops that are purchased there.
Plunket,
who’s headed the Albertville store for a decade, said it’s exciting
to see what the Ainsworths are doing at Dream Ranch.
"This
is a way of preserving our agricultural lands and showcasing the type of
diversity that many of our rural landowners are leaning toward," he
said.
As
he rode throughout the area to the new 30-foot deep several-acre lake
still under construction, Plunket and Ainsworth recently discussed how
trophy bass fishing will, by next year, be added to the ranch’s many
experiences.
The
ranch also features several test fields monitored by experts from Auburn
University, where Ainsworth graduated with a degree in business
marketing. (That’s where he met his wife Kendall, a Mississippi
native, who has a degree in human development family systems and works
at the Marshall County Even Start Program.)
Ainsworth
said, "The Auburn plots are monitored to see which crops are more
palatable to deer."
Ainsworth,
president of ALFA’s Marshall County Young Farmers, explained that warm
and cool season plots are planted throughout the ranch to increase
antler development. The world-class shooting houses can accommodate one
to four folks. All deer hunts are one-on-one with a fully-trained
Alabama-born guide.
Two
special Kubota all-terrain vehicles have platforms on the back for quail
hunting "in plantation style" so hunters have a perfect spot
to view the several well-trained pointers, setters and brittanys as they
hunt for coveys. There are half or full-day hunts available for quail
from October first through spring.
An
added bonus Ainsworth said he did not expect has been the ranch’s
profitable and exciting deer breeding program, separate and completely
away from the hunting operations.
Twenty
fenced pens of three to five acres with ten-foot fencing, as well as
specialized lower fencing for predator control, are located across the
highway and valley from the hunting areas.
Does
and fawns are kept in a separate area with those fawns being sold only
to other preserves and farms as breeding stock. Fawns are weighed,
catalogued, tagged, vaccinated and wormed directly after they are born
with hair samples taken to assure which doe is their mother, so they can
make certain bloodlines of the herd bucks are kept pure.
All
does on the property have genetics to produce bucks of at least
200-inch, according to Ainsworth, providing a crop of three year olds
that are likely to be the largest herd in the Southeast with an average
scoring of 200-inch or more on the Boone and Crockett trophy scale.
Breeding
bucks are also kept in their own fenced preserve away from all hunting.
"We
want to stress that our breeding program is completely separate from our
hunting areas," Ainsworth explained.
Ainsworth
has done extensive study in AI and in all areas of farm management,
breeding and wildlife management.
For
the first two years, Dream Ranch, LLC (a family operated holding
including Will’s dad, Bill, the owner) hired Doug Leitcch, founder of
Wildlife Services, to help in establishing the ranch and continuing Will’s
training.
Now
Ainsworth himself is available for consulting on everything from high
and low fence management, doe management, infrared camera surveys and
whitetail deer farm consulting including genetics, deer behavior, AI,
record keeping, nutritional requirements, fawn rearing, parental
matching, semen collection and processing, and more.
If
all that isn’t enough, Ainsworth hopes to eventually host summer camps
for children and teens, showing them the best of nature and the
importance of conservation. "I’d like to have a Christian camp in
the summer. Teach them archery, marksmanship; let them enjoy fishing and
hiking. That could be one more way the farm is utilized in the
summer," Ainsworth said.
And
how does the Ainsworth family measure their success: "We have a 96
percent return rate on our clients," he said. "Whatever the
reason for their visit, we want their stay here, whether a half-day or a
whole weekend, to truly be a ‘world class’ experience, a complete
getaway."
Ainsworth
can be contacted directly at 256-302-1724 or by writing 7620 Browns
Valley Road, Guntersville, AL 35976 or on the web at www.dreamranch.org.
Suzy
Lowry Geno is a freelance writer from Blount County. |
